Modi's Gujarat 'less developed' state: Raghuram Rajan report

26 September 2013

Modi's Gujarat 'less developed' state: Raghuram Rajan report

NEW DELHI: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan blew a hole in Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's Gujarat's development claims as he declared the state as 'less developed' and ranked it at 12th position in overall development, CNN IBN reports.

Rajan's report on overall performance of all 28 states in the country suggests that Gujarat lags behind six Congress ruled states including Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala.

The report of the Dr. Rajan Committee for Evolving a Composite Development Index of States on Thursday submitted its report to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, and identified Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh as the country's "least developed" states.

The committee has formulated a multi-dimensional index of backwardness based on per capita consumption as measured by the NSSO, the poverty ratio, and a number of other measures that correspond to the approach to defining poverty outlined in the Twelfth Five Year Plan.

The Dr. Raghuram Rajan Committee has also proposed a method for the allocation of funds from the Centre to the States based on the state's development needs, as well as its development performance.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram said, "The committee has recommended that states that score 0.6 and above on the index may be classified as 'Least Developed' states that score below 0.6 and above 0.4 may be classified as 'Less Developed'; and states that score below 0.4 may be classified as 'Relatively Developed'." (With inputs from agencies)